Paraguay, landlocked country in south-central South America. Paraguay’s recent history has been characterized by turbulence and authoritarian rule. It was involved in two of the three major wars on the continent—the War of the Triple Alliance (1864/65–70), against Argentina, Brazil, and Uruguay, and the Chaco War (1932–35), against Bolivia. Moreover, a civil war in 1947 and the long dictatorship of Alfredo Stroessner (1954–89) left a deep legacy of fear and self-censorship among Paraguayans, who only began to overcome these impediments in the early 21st century. Since 1989 the democratization process has been rocky, and Paraguay has experienced bouts of instability in its military, the assassination of a vice president in 1999, and the indictment of former presidents Juan Carlos Wasmosy (1993–98) and Luis González Macchi (1999–2003) on corruption charges. In 2008 Paraguay’s Colorado Party, the longest continuously ruling political party in the world, lost power for the first time since 1947. The national capital is Asunción.

Paraguay has a more homogeneous population than most other countries in South America; most Paraguayans are of European and Guaraní ancestry. The Guaraní culture is strongly represented through folk art and festivals, and Guaraní was designated an official language of Paraguay in the country’s 1992 constitution. Paraguayans are intensely nationalistic and are proud to converse in Guaraní, which acts as a strong marker of their identity. The language is much more widely spoken in Paraguay than is Spanish.

Rivers play an extremely important role in the economic life of Paraguay. Indeed, the name of the country is said to derive from the Guaraní word meaning “river that gives birth to the sea.” Rivers provide access to the Atlantic Ocean and as sites for the hydroelectric power plants that have made Paraguay one of the world’s largest exporters of hydropower. The country is also a major world producer of soybeans, and Paraguayans in parts of the fertile eastern border region have achieved relatively high standards of living based on modern diversified agricultural production. The growth of cooperative farms throughout Paraguay has increased the quality of life for many farmers who previously had depended on small-scale farms dedicated to the cultivation of a single crop. Nevertheless, the issue of land reform has remained unresolved since the 1880s and has given rise to extreme levels of inequality since the 1990s.

Land

Paraguay is bounded by Bolivia to the northwest and north, Brazil to the northeast and east, and Argentina to the southeast, south, and west. Asunción is located on the east bank of the Paraguay River, opposite the mouth of its primary western tributary, the Pilcomayo River. The Paraguay River, which runs from north to south, divides Paraguay into two distinct geographic regions—the Región Oriental (Eastern Region) and the Región Occidental (Western Region), also called the Chaco Boreal.

Relief

The Eastern Region, with an area of about 61,700 square miles (160,000 square km), is an extension of the Brazilian Plateau and varies in elevation from about 165 feet (50 metres) above sea level in the southwest to a few hills that rise to 2,500 feet (760 metres) in the east. The Amambaí (Amambay) Mountains run approximately north to south along part of the border with Brazil and then run eastward as the Mbaracayú Mountains. From the northeast, other ranges extend southward toward Encarnación, diminishing to hills in the south. The highest peak is Mount San Rafael at 2,789 feet (850 metres), in the Cordillera de San Rafael in southeastern Paraguay. To the west lies the broad valley of the Paraguay River. The area from Encarnación northward to the Brazilian border, comprising one-third of eastern Paraguay, is called the Paraná Plateau. The western part of the Eastern Region and the Paraná valley north and east of Encarnación are the areas most favourable to human settlement. The Chaco Boreal, which covers more than 95,000 square miles (246,000 square km), about two-thirds of the country, forms the northeastern part of the Gran Chaco, a flat and largely featureless tropical region that extends into Bolivia and Argentina.

Drainage

Four-fifths of the country’s perimeter is traced by the Paraguay, Apa, Paraná, and Pilcomayo rivers. To the east of the Cordillera de San Rafael lies the Paraná (Alto [Upper] Paraná) River valley. To the west lies the broad valley of the Paraguay River. The Paraná forms both the eastern and southern borders of the country. Multiple tributaries of the Paraguay and Paraná cross the eastern and central regions. The mountain ranges of Amambay and Mbaracayú form the watershed between the Paraguay and the Paraná rivers. Important eastern tributaries of the Paraguay River include, from north to south, the Apa, Aquidabán, Ypané, Jejuí Guazú, and Tebicuary. Except for the Acaray and Ytambey rivers, the streams that flow into the Paraná have little economic significance. The Paraná joins the Paraguay River at the country’s southwestern corner. The only important tributary flowing from the west is the sluggish Pilcomayo, which joins the Paraguay near Asunción. Rising to the northwest in Bolivia, the Pilcomayo forms the southern border of the Chaco Boreal and is navigable in its lower reaches by small boats. Other Chaco rivers, including the Verde and Monte Lindo, are slow, sluggish, intermittent streams that drain into swamps or disappear during dry periods.

Paraguay has only two lakes of consequence. The largest, Lake Ypoá, about 40 miles (65 km) south of Asunción, merges into Lake Verá; it is drained by channels of the Tebicuary and feeds the marshes of the Ñeembucú plain. Lake Ypacaraí, about 30 miles (50 km) east of Asunción, is the site of a favourite summer resort at San Bernardino.

Soils

A large part of eastern Paraguay is covered by a residual soil mantle so deep that bedrock is rarely exposed. This soil is generally red and sandy and is low in nitrogen and other basic plant foods. About two-fifths of eastern Paraguay, in a belt running from the Brazilian border south to the Tebicuary and including the Asunción area, is covered by soils underlain by sandstone. Soils from basaltic lava, which generally are the most fertile, cover the Paraná Plateau. Transported soils cover a band along the Paraguay River, extending from the Apa River to the southern border and covering the Ñeembucú plain. Soils of the Gran Chaco are largely alluvial mud, clay, and sand that have been transported from the Bolivian highlands.

Climate

The climate is subtropical in most of the Eastern Region, which mainly lies south of the Tropic of Capricorn, and tropical in most of the Chaco Boreal extending to its north. Masses of humid air blanket the country in the summers, and the winters are subject to cold southern winds. Summer temperatures, between October and March, generally range from 75 to 100 °F (24 to 38 °C). Winter temperatures usually range from 60 to 75 °F (16 to 24 °C), although extremes in the 30s and 100s °F (about −1 and 40 °C) are not uncommon. Frost occurs frequently in the Eastern Region.

The annual average rainfall in eastern Paraguay varies from 65 inches (1,650 mm) in the southeast to about 55 inches (1,400 mm) along the Paraguay River. It diminishes gradually westward across the Chaco Boreal, averaging about 30 inches (760 mm). The heaviest rainfall is from October to April. The entire country is subject to periodic floods and droughts, both of which cause severe agricultural losses.

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